Former world champions Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Homann of Germany cemented their status as the top title contenders by blanking Kenny Kwok and Lee Chenman of Hong Kong, 8-0, in Day 2 of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool at the SM City North EDSA.

Except for a scratch in the 7th rack, the Germans kept the Hong Kong pair on their seats en route to forging a round-of-16 showdown with France’s Steven Cohen and Vincent Facquet on Thursday.

Souquet scratched the white ball in the 7th rack after hitting the Orange 5, but the Hong Kong pair failed to capitalize allowing the Germans to register the whitewash.

The Germans’ win came after Finland’s Mika Immonen and Markus Juva played hamonious music on the table, beating Marcus Chamat and Tom Storm of Sweden, 8-3.

Other Day 2 winners were Japanese Satoshi Kawabata and Hayato Hijikata, who tripped Crotia’s Ivica Putnik and Philipp Stojanovic, 8-6, and Italians Bruno Muratore and Fabio Petroni, who booted out Austria’s Martin Kempler and Jasmin Ouschan, 8-5.

Meantime, Immonen believe Filipino bets Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante have the advantage in the $250,000 competition.

Reyes and Bustamante cruised to the next round Monday night via an 8-3 win over Qatar rivals Bashar Hussain and Mohammed Ali Bi Ali.

The RP Team A – composed of World No. 1 Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano – meanwhile, was playing Thailand’s Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Surethep Phoochalam at presstime.